Jonathan Comey: Why the Revs could be worth watching

It's always been difficult to drum up any interest in the New England Revolution.

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By JONATHAN COMEY

southcoasttoday.com

By JONATHAN COMEY

Posted Mar. 8, 2013 at 12:01 AM

By JONATHAN COMEY
Posted Mar. 8, 2013 at 12:01 AM

» Social News

It's always been difficult to drum up any interest in the New England Revolution.

Even when they were winning — which they did a lot, across the entire span of the 2000s — they never got a lot of media attention. Attendance peaked during the "new-car smell" phase of the late 1990s, and has declined since.

The last three years, the bottom fell out, both in the stands and on the field. Three straight bad seasons (23 total wins, 49 losses, 26 ties) have also seen them at the bottom of the Major League Soccer attendance chart. Charges that the Kraft family doesn't spend enough to make the team relevant are fairly well-accepted, and New England's soccer nuts don't seem to be interested.

And yet, I think most New England sports fans are a little bit like me — they have a small kernel of interest, and hope that the Revs will do well. After all, once the Bruins and Celtics get done, the Red Sox are the only game in town — and as we found last year, when they're not good, it ruins everyone's SUMMAH!

So, as New England prepares for Saturday night's season opener (at Chicago, 7:30 p.m., Comcast, 98.5 FM), a short list of reasons that the Revs could be worth watching in 2013.

You know, if nothing else is on €»

Andrew Farrell is likely to start from the get-go for the Revs after getting the call at No. 1 out of Louisville in last year's draft.

"Andrew has come in as a very developed soccer player, as someone who has an excellent soccer IQ," New England coach Jay Heaps told the Boston Globe last month. "He fits very well with our group."

From the reports I'm seeing (written by those with much more knowledge than I have), Farrell is a humble, strong impact player whose contributions are going to be felt on defense and offense.

Is the No. 1 pick a big deal in MLS? Considering that the Revs only had to add cash to the deal to move up from No. 4 to No. 1, perhaps not.

Last year's No. 1, Andrew Wenger, had four goals and started seven games last year €» but for the first half of the season, was still going to classes at Duke. Somehow I don't think Andrew Luck could have taken a few games off to sharpen his doctorate at Stanford.

The 2011 No. 1 pick, Omar Salgado, has seen limited action for Vancouver; 2009 and 10 top picks Steve Zakuani (Seattle) and Danny Mwanga (Philadelphia) were finalists for Rookie of the Year.

Regardless, the move adds a starter — and sends a message that the team is willing to spend to add talent, which has been a knock from those in the know.

Jose Goncalves was born in Lisbon and played for the Portuguese Under-21s.

A Cape Verdean, Goncalves actually grew up in Switzerland and has never played for any of the Portuguese club leagues. Revs fans saw the midfield as the team's biggest weakness last year, and Goncalves is a big addition — he's 6-foot-2, 180 pounds, and at 27, in his prime.

The Revs also have Honduran star Jerry Bengtson for a full season, and Frenchman Saer Sene led the team with 11 goals last year and returns. And 18-year-old Diego Fagundez (Uruguay native) is actually in his third season with New England — it's tough to imagine an 18-year-old being a "veteran" in any other American team sport.

The folks at goal.com unveiled their preseason predictions before the start of last week's games, and two of the six identified New England as the team most likely to improve.

This is great €» except for the fact that New England was so poor last year that even notable improvement might not be enough. The Revs finished 9-17-8, and were out of the playoff mix all year long. Five of the 10 Eastern Conference teams make the playoffs, and there were six winning teams last year — none of whom look to have taken any steps backward from last year to this one.

New England's rough 2012 was at least an improvement on a rougher 2011, but a .500 mark this year is probably the best a Revs fan can hope for.

This is no small consideration when you have kids and want to take them somewhere memorable without having to sell off your furniture to pay for it.

Tickets for home games officially start on Ticketmaster at $28 each, but the secondary market is usually even cheaper than gate prices. You can get four tickets to the home opener for $19.95 each on StubHub, and parking is free.

Tailgating is available two hours before the game and an hour after, so if you bring your own food and avoid the in-game concession trips, you can save a few bucks.

If that seems a lot for a "minor" sport, consider that you can expect to pay as much or more for Providence Bruins minor-league hockey games, and parking is $10.

Jonathan Comey is sports and features editor for The Standard-Times. E-mail him at jcomey@s-t.com